There’s an app for binge drinking

There will be, anyway. And it’s not what you’re thinking because it’s the TABC that’s developing it.

As college students from across the nation head to Texas beaches for spring break, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is already making plans to have new tools at its disposal for next year’s partiers — mobile phone apps that it hopes will curb excessive and underage drinking.

One app will allow users to gauge their motor skills through a series of increasingly difficult tests, and the other would let anyone file a complaint against an establishment if it is suspected of serving alcohol to a minor or of breaking rules against serving too much alcohol to customers.

Although both apps are still in development, the former is designed to make people more aware of how much alcohol can affect them. Even basic tasks become difficult to perform as a person’s blood alcohol content rises.

The motor skills tests will be an educational component of a website, which will also have videos that discuss the dangers if individuals are unaware of their blood alcohol content.

The other app will enable anyone to file a complaint with the TABC to report suspected sales of alcohol to minors or overserving. Although those complaints can already be filed online,the TABC hopes that the app’s short-term costs will help to bring more minors — and the retailers who sell to them — into compliance.

I don’t know why any law enforcement agency would not have (or at least be developing) an app that would enable people to file complaints with them. It’s their most basic function, and it’s well-suited for that. How many underage drinkers will be narc’ed on as a result of this I couldn’t say, but having the app is still something I’d expect the TABC to do.